TalkTalk upgrade for no extra cost

Norman_Castle

Had a second email from talktalk offering a no cost upgrade.

"We recently contacted you about arranging your engineer appointment to upgrade your home to a better fibre broadband, as part of a nationwide upgrade.

As a loyal TalkTalk customer your upgrade is available at no extra cost.

You won’t pay any more than you do today, and you’ll get our Fibre 150 service which has average download speeds of 145Mb/s"

Anyone done this? My contract ends in 5 months and its likely I'll move chasing a cheaper deal, does this lock me to talktalk or renew the contract? I currently get about 35mbps which seems fine to me so don't really need the upgrade. Also concerned about the installation. Current copper wire is under grass and a path emerging from underground at the front of the property with neighbouring flats phone cables in an approx 1 inch wide plastic conduit. this is old and not overly substantial so its questionable a new cable could be threaded through, there's no other practical option without groundworks which I suspect would be uneconomical unless multiple properties were being moved to fibre.

Any thoughts about this? I don't want to start something which causes problems or locks me into something I don't really need.

brewerdave

Can't comment on specific installation difficulties BUT once you have given up your "old" copper based connection to move to full fibre, then you can't go back , so your choice would be restricted to the ISPs currently offering full fibre. 
Also can't believe that TT would carry out the work without an extension of the contracted period.

MattMattMattUK

Norman_Castle said:

Had a second email from talktalk offering a no cost upgrade.

"We recently contacted you about arranging your engineer appointment to upgrade your home to a better fibre broadband, as part of a nationwide upgrade.

As a loyal TalkTalk customer your upgrade is available at no extra cost.

You won’t pay any more than you do today, and you’ll get our Fibre 150 service which has average download speeds of 145Mb/s"

Anyone done this? My contract ends in 5 months and its likely I'll move chasing a cheaper deal, does this lock me to talktalk or renew the contract? I currently get about 35mbps which seems fine to me so don't really need the upgrade. Also concerned about the installation. Current copper wire is under grass and a path emerging from underground at the front of the property with neighbouring flats phone cables in an approx 1 inch wide plastic conduit. this is old and not overly substantial so its questionable a new cable could be threaded through, there's no other practical option without groundworks which I suspect would be uneconomical unless multiple properties were being moved to fibre.

Any thoughts about this? I don't want to start something which causes problems or locks me into something I don't really need.

Normally these "upgrades" are used to lock you in to another 12/24 month contract, they hope people don't notice as it is a "free" upgrade.

HaroldWren5

MattMattMattUK said:

Norman_Castle said:

Had a second email from talktalk offering a no cost upgrade.

"We recently contacted you about arranging your engineer appointment to upgrade your home to a better fibre broadband, as part of a nationwide upgrade.

As a loyal TalkTalk customer your upgrade is available at no extra cost.

You won’t pay any more than you do today, and you’ll get our Fibre 150 service which has average download speeds of 145Mb/s"

Anyone done this? My contract ends in 5 months and its likely I'll move chasing a cheaper deal, does this lock me to talktalk or renew the contract? I currently get about 35mbps which seems fine to me so don't really need the upgrade. Also concerned about the installation. Current copper wire is under grass and a path emerging from underground at the front of the property with neighbouring flats phone cables in an approx 1 inch wide plastic conduit. this is old and not overly substantial so its questionable a new cable could be threaded through, there's no other practical option without groundworks which I suspect would be uneconomical unless multiple properties were being moved to fibre.

Any thoughts about this? I don't want to start something which causes problems or locks me into something I don't really need.

Normally these "upgrades" are used to lock you in to another 12/24 month contract, they hope people don't notice as it is a "free" upgrade.

I am inclined to agree. Moving to FTTP is good, it provides a more reliable connection and there are now more ISPs offering that product on the Openreach lines. However, when an ISP says a "Free upgrade", they may be trying to lock you in for a new contract. You should only agree to the upgrade IF they are giving you a good price. Otherwise, you could upgrade to FTTP with a new provider later on if you can wait 5 months. 

joshparker1911

Had this exact same email and wondered the same myself . My contracts up next month and I've negotiated 65mbs for £20 a month, wonder if I can get the 150 thrown in for the same price. 

HaroldWren5

joshparker1911 said:

Had this exact same email and wondered the same myself . My contracts up next month and I've negotiated 65mbs for £20 a month, wonder if I can get the 150 thrown in for the same price. 

I think the FTTP packages are starting at higher speeds so it's quite possible you will. 

dreamypuma

I've had a similar email. Our current contract is due for renewal in September, and we've previously declined FTTP with TalkTalk. We declined mainly because their offers have not been very competitive, and felt that we'd have more "leverage" in September.

Also most FTTP installs we've seen seem to look a mess with cables everywhere. Can only dodge this for so long, so may make the leap. 

What internal components do an FTTP installs comprise of and how many spare power outlets are required to support this?

We currently use a TP-Link M4 Mesh system in AP mode connected to the TalkTalk WiFi Hub. We'd would like to continue using our Mesh system, but notice TalkTalk keep offering eero with their installs. 

HaroldWren5

dreamypuma said:

I've had a similar email. Our current contract is due for renewal in September, and we've previously declined FTTP with TalkTalk. We declined mainly because their offers have not been very competitive, and felt that we'd have more "leverage" in September.

Also most FTTP installs we've seen seem to look a mess with cables everywhere. Can only dodge this for so long, so may make the leap. 

What internal components do an FTTP installs comprise of and how many spare power outlets are required to support this?

We currently use a TP-Link M4 Mesh system in AP mode connected to the TalkTalk WiFi Hub. We'd would like to continue using our Mesh system, but notice TalkTalk keep offering eero with their installs. 

I think only one power socket is required to plug the ONT into, and then another power socket for the ISP supplied router. 

You can still use your TP Link Mesh system by plugging it into your TalkTalk Eero router and turning the Eero's Wifi off right

dreamypuma

HaroldWren5 said:

dreamypuma said:

I've had a similar email. Our current contract is due for renewal in September, and we've previously declined FTTP with TalkTalk. We declined mainly because their offers have not been very competitive, and felt that we'd have more "leverage" in September.

Also most FTTP installs we've seen seem to look a mess with cables everywhere. Can only dodge this for so long, so may make the leap. 

What internal components do an FTTP installs comprise of and how many spare power outlets are required to support this?

We currently use a TP-Link M4 Mesh system in AP mode connected to the TalkTalk WiFi Hub. We'd would like to continue using our Mesh system, but notice TalkTalk keep offering eero with their installs. 

I think only one power socket is required to plug the ONT into, and then another power socket for the ISP supplied router. 

You can still use your TP Link Mesh system by plugging it into your TalkTalk Eero router and turning the Eero's Wifi off right

Thanks, I wasn't sure if the eero router (being an Amazon device) would just duplicate the same function of my Deco unit. 

I assume that there isn't a traditional TalkTalk router then? Is the eero replacing the TalkTalk router?

If this is the case, I suspect that my Deco, could be used in wireless router mode instead of AP, to replace the eero. (hopefully cutting out the use of one additional power socket). Have I got this right?

nicole1987

Be careful everyone - there is a genuine free upgrade offer for people on fast fibre to future fibre // FTTC to FTTP  (similar to the upgrades for people on ADSL/copper to FTTC).

On the talktalk community boards the staff advise that this offer is genuinely free of price or contract extension costs

But the implementation of the offer has been awful - so lots of people are getting charged more and put on to new 18/24 month contracts. I've called up 3 times trying to get the free offer and only get offered new contracts - lots of people saying the same. A lot of us have different experiences and a few people have reported genuinely getting the free no-cost upgrade - so I think it depends on where you live.

I've reported my concerns to the ICO because I've opted out of marketing but over the course of 5 months I've had multiple emails about this offer which has no opt out.

There are lots of people on the talktalk community boards and on trustpilot who have had these emails but only been offered new contracts, or have ended up on new contracts without realising!

HaroldWren5

dreamypuma said:

HaroldWren5 said:

dreamypuma said:

I've had a similar email. Our current contract is due for renewal in September, and we've previously declined FTTP with TalkTalk. We declined mainly because their offers have not been very competitive, and felt that we'd have more "leverage" in September.

Also most FTTP installs we've seen seem to look a mess with cables everywhere. Can only dodge this for so long, so may make the leap. 

What internal components do an FTTP installs comprise of and how many spare power outlets are required to support this?

We currently use a TP-Link M4 Mesh system in AP mode connected to the TalkTalk WiFi Hub. We'd would like to continue using our Mesh system, but notice TalkTalk keep offering eero with their installs. 

I think only one power socket is required to plug the ONT into, and then another power socket for the ISP supplied router. 

You can still use your TP Link Mesh system by plugging it into your TalkTalk Eero router and turning the Eero's Wifi off right

Thanks, I wasn't sure if the eero router (being an Amazon device) would just duplicate the same function of my Deco unit. 

I assume that there isn't a traditional TalkTalk router then? Is the eero replacing the TalkTalk router?

If this is the case, I suspect that my Deco, could be used in wireless router mode instead of AP, to replace the eero. (hopefully cutting out the use of one additional power socket). Have I got this right?

Yes that sounds right. For their FTTP product, TalkTalk now seem to be using an Eero router (locked to TalkTalk). You can plug in your Deco Mesh system into the TalkTalk Eero (with the latter being in Bridge mode). Or like you said, if your Deco is a router, you could just use that as the main router (connecting it to the ONT) and skip using the TalkTalk Eero altogether.